"Troy Denning - Forgotten Realms - The Harpers 12 - The Veiled Dragon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Denning Troy)

Forgotten Realms
The Veiled Dragon - The Harpers #12
Tony Denning

One

Far across the surging dunes of
moonlit sea, the dark wyrm wheeled
and, with a deftness surer than any
desert falcon, struck again at the dis-
tant and battered caravel. The serpent
caught the topyard in its ebony claws
and snapped the thick timbers like
twigs; the topsail tore free and away it
flew, a gift to the wailing salt winds. From the caravel's
distant decks rose a flurry of tiny splinters, arrows and
spears hurled by men who looked like insects beneath
the belly of the monster. The black shafts struck its thick
scales and bounced away without causing harm. The
beast swooped low over the stern, spun upon its leathery
wing, and returned at once to the vessel. Its talons tore
into the wooden hull as the claws of a lion tear into the
flanks of a camel.




A great dune of wind-driven sea rose up before Ruha
robbing her eyes of the faraway caravel and the night-
black dragon. She locked her arms around the starboard
taffrail of her own vessel, a forty-foot cog hired out of
Lormyr, and watched the black waters gather like a
mountain beside the ship. The dune crashed down, and
the froth roared over the wales and swirled about her
waist, sweeping her feet from beneath her hips. Ruha
hugged the rail as though it were a husband. The torrent
raged on, and each second seemed a minute. The angry

The Harpers

sea dragged at her long aba like a ravisher determined to
disrobe her, and churning tears of foam beat at her face,
soaking her veil and her shawl with cold briny water. Her
arms trembled with the strain of holding fast.

At last, the cog heeled to the wind and rose on the
heaving sea. The fierce waters rolled across the deck and
poured overboard, carrying with them all the torrent's
rage, and Ruha's smooth-soled sandals found purchase
on the wet planks. She stood and looked toward the dis-